Money

10:41 am

Thu November 29, 2012

IEDC announces record year

With a month still to go this year, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation Wednesday announced 2012 will set a record for commitments from companies to locate or expand operations in the state. But IEDC CEO Dan Hasler says he’d still like to see more of the commitments turn into actual jobs.

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Listen to Brandon Smith's story about the IEDC's record-breaking year for business commitments.

Two hundred twenty companies have made commitments to the IEDC this year to expand or establish new operations in Indiana, translating to around $3.6 billion in investments and more than 20,000 jobs.

But those commitments aren’t guarantees. IEDC chief Dan Hasler says on average over the last year, only about four of every five jobs promised has materialized.

“Not what you’d like,” Hasler said. “You’d like to have 90, 95 but we also recognize we were coming through a pretty difficult economic period at that point in time.”

The IEDC has been heavily criticized in the past few years for announcing commitments, only to see them fall through.

Terre Haute Democratic Senator Tim Skinner says he thinks 81% is a good figure, and hopes IEDC doesn’t make job announcements just to, in his words, “pad their stats.”

“There’s evidence that they’re working hard,” Skinner said. “They’re trying to do what we’ve asked them to do and I think, you know, if they’re that successful, I think that shows an improvement.”

Hasler says any incentive packages offered to the corporations that make commitments are performance-based, requiring the companies to keep their promises before receiving benefits.